When it comes to pointing visitors in the right direction, sometimes less signage is more.

At least that's the thinking from Forge Media + Design in Toronto, which designed a wayfinding system for the newly-opened Four Seasons Hotel and Residences in Toronto, a large site with two towers (one that reaches 204 metres).


"We work really hard to put in as few signs into a building as we can," said Gregory Neely, principal of Forge. "We look for other wayfinding cues that don't use signs, such as landmarks, while working with the architect to minimize the amount of items we place into an environment."

That's not to say, of course, that there's no signs involved in the project. But it's not just the typical information on a board tacked to the wall, said Neely. There's some 'free-floating' text used — that is, letters tacked directly to the wall. That technique "has a high-end aspect and fits into the idea of integration," he said. "Sometimes you have to use panels, and we did use some panels."

For example, in the residences, there's frosted acrylic panels that run floor to ceiling with metal numbers applied to them, explained Neely.


Expanding on the integration theme, Neely said Forge works to match its designs with interior design choices. "We're always looking at the environment and how we can add elements to it that look like they weren't designed by us, but were designed by the interior designer," he said. "Our job is not to come in and apply our design vision to a wayfinding project, our job is to take the unified vision of the project and to extend and enhance it."

Regarding the Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk typeface used for signage, "We looked for typography that fit with the Four Seasons brand and relationship to the architecture — contemporary and modern with a bit of warmth," he said. Icons were done in-house. "We looked at a lot of different options, we wanted something with soft, simple elegance."


There's Braille on some of the signage where appropriate, including at washrooms and room numbers.

The current project took about two years to come to fruition. "Typically wayfinding projects will last from one to five years. That's the nature of environmental design projects," he said, noting Forge has prior experience with wayfinding.

Meanwhile, Forge is working on another Four Seasons design project in Hawaii, which will wrap up in a few weeks. "It's completely different design elements" than the Toronto project, said Neely.